Essential guide to LED Christmas Lights

Do your holiday lights make your neighbourhood's power station resort to auxiliary nuclear power? Choosing light-emitting diode technology—LED lights— that use as much as 95 percent less electricity than their inefficient predecessors and last up to 10 times longer is the best answer to making your festivities truly bright.

LED technology
Unlike halogen and incandescent lights LEDs use a semiconductor crystal chip that emits light when an electrical current passes through. Since there are no filaments and no moving parts to break, LEDs last longer and use less energy.

Replacing new with old
Many stores no longer sell non-LED Christmas lights, so if you haven't yet updated your holiday lighting, you should. These modern lights offer a variety of colours and shapes; and while older LEDs can be noticeably dimmer, the technology has quickly improved.

Takes some adjusting
Some people argue that the light emitted from their LEDs is too "cold", lacking the warm hues given off by more traditional strings of lights. Meanwhile, others can't imagine living without this new technology.

Saves money
Consumer Reports report that LED systems saves you $10 dollar per every 300 hours, lasting up to 100,000 hours (based on the fact that when the light output has depreciated to less than 50 percent the light source has effectively expired). But the life of your LED system is dependent on a number of factors including the colour; red and green LEDs seem to last longer than blue and white. Other benefits to LED lighting include that the bulbs do not grow as hot, reducing the risk of a fire; and LED bulbs are much harder to break than their glass and filament ancestors.

Do your homework
The best thing to do is shop wisely — LEDs are a relatively new technology for consumers. You should ask friends, family and colleagues which brands and types they prefer. Try one type of LED light out before committing yourself to multiple holiday strings. And although costs have come down substantially, you might need to pay a little extra for high-quality LEDs. Environmental Lighting is a good place to get you started on your search since it lists over 280 string products including the newest trends of LED shapes. And if the sheer gaudiness of LEDs is overwhelming then check out Little Bright Lights, offering more low key holiday lighting.

Start at City Hall
For the past few years now, many municipalities have held exchange programs, where you can trade in your old inefficient lights for new LEDs. You should be able to find one of these programs near you and this may be the best way to get started when it comes to LED Christmas lighting. (Ontario municipalities are promising not to use the brand that resulted in the 2006 recall.) May your holiday be merry and LED bright!